Canadian engineering students hang VW Beetle from bridge

Posted: Tuesday, February 06, 2001

The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Upholding a 20-year-old tradition, engineering students from the University of British Columbia tethered the hull of an old, red Volkswagen Beetle to the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge on Monday.

Witnesses told the California Highway Patrol that about a dozen people pulled off the prank in the middle of the night.

Bridge workers cut the 2-inch-wide nylon webbing and let the car drop into the water during the morning rush hour. The Coast Guard kept the area clear until the hunk of metal sank.

Every year, engineering students at the Canadian university hold E Week and hang Beetles from buildings and other places around Vancouver. This year, the students took their gig on the road.

"The more international the stunt, the better the press coverage," said Chad Brown, an engineering student celebrating the feat.

Fog mostly blocked the televised sight of the VW, emblazoned with an E and a maple leaf, dangling 100 feet above the water.

The pranksters could be fined and ordered to perform community service. The penalties for such pranks increased after a 1996 episode in which actor Woody Harrelson and several other activists climbed one of the bridge's cables to protest logging.

Brown, 22, would not say which of his classmates pulled the prank. "They still have to get across the border, you know," he said.